BlackAndWhiteSince87 
Joined: 26 Nov 2008
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| Post subject: Jurrah pushing through the language barrier |  |
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http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/jurrahs-language-barrier/2009/03/16/1237054738320.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
| Quote: | SOME players who arrive in the AFL can't kick accurately, they fumble, or drop marks. Then, there are psychological impediments: a lack of self-confidence, too much aggression, not enough concentration.
For Melbourne's Liam Jurrah, the barrier is the English language, a skill that comes less easily to him than leaping to mark. This is understandable, since English isn't the Warlpiri man's native tongue. The Demons believe it is his third language.
Mindful of the enormous challenges Jurrah faces in sharing his thoughts with teammates and coaches — and of the importance of communication in an increasingly complex game — the Demons have ensured that their No. 1 pre-season draft pick attends English classes.
Last week, Jurrah began English tutorials under the auspices of the AFL Players Association's literacy and numeracy program. He isn't the only player in the program — there are several others of varying capacities — but he is a special case, in that he isn't learning to speak his mother tongue.
Jurrah is fluent in the Warlpiri language, which Melbourne's development coach, Ian Flack, believed might be spoken by as few as 500 people in the world. He also has the command of a second indigenous language, but his English is limited.
Jurrah, 20, is what Flack described as a "trainee elder" of the Warlpiri people; some day in the future, he will become an elder of his remote tribe, located in Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
"It's been decided that he'll be an elder when he's older," said Flack, who has assisted Jurrah in assimilating into Melbourne — the city and football club. Flack says that the Warlpiri man's major challenge is speaking, rather than comprehending or reading, in English.
Jurrah, indeed, likes to read the newspaper and, as Flack and others attest, he can understand English fine. The struggle is to voice and converse in the words himself, a common experience for those who attempt second (or third) languages.
"He's a very intelligent bloke," said Flack, who sought to place Jurrah's language situation into perspective for some teammates, telling them, "it's the equivalent of you speaking German and Italian and English".
Recruited via that quintessentially Collingwood coterie group, the Industrial Magpies, Jurrah played for Collingwood's VFL team last year, managing four matches before he returned to Yuendumu, a desert community, because a friend was dying.
He returned to Melbourne, but the Magpies, clearly mindful of the vast cultural distance Jurrah had to travel (Industrial Magpie and Jurrah friend Bruce Hearn Mackinnon told The Age's Martin Flanagan that Jurrah had never been in the ocean until a Collingwood recovery session), chose not to pursue him and he did not even nominate for the national draft. Other clubs took a similarly risk-averse view, though he trained briefly with North Melbourne.
Ex-Collingwood grand final player Rupert Betheras intervened, lobbied the AFL and saw to it that the Warlpiri man was permitted to nominate for the pre-season draft (PSD). While national draft nomination is normally mandatory for those picked in the PSD, the AFL ruled that Jurrah had "exceptional circumstances" and allowed him in.
As it turned out, only one club had a crack at picking him.
Austin Wonaeamirri and Aaron Davey, both indigenous players from the Northern Territory's Top End, have been helping Jurrah adjust to club life, but the Demons have found it difficult to obtain accommodation for him and his partner, who are looking for a two-bedroom home; Jurrah has been living in the Hearn Mackinnon household.
The AFL Players Association's player development manager, the affable ex-Essendon ruckman Steve Alessio, heads up the players' literacy and numeracy program, which is offered to players who need help, but isn't compulsory. The AFLPA tests all of the league's 130-odd new players for their literacy and numeracy competence when they arrive at their clubs.
"It's voluntary. And sometimes, some players for whatever reason, won't decide to seek that assistance," said Alessio, who could not recall a past player for whom English was a second language.
Since the literacy classes are confidential, Alessio would not comment on Jurrah's situation, except to say: "He's got his challenges in terms of, you know, what he needs to work through in his first year, like every player, or every first-year player has their own challenges.
"Liam's probably got a few more, having come from a remote community, as a lot of indigenous players do."
Jurrah's capacity to express himself is compounded, too, by shyness. For Melbourne, helping him become better versed in spoken English isn't simply for the Warlpiri-elder-in-waiting's benefit.
"It just makes you feel a bit uncomfortable when you can't understand him," said Flack.
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